Explore "The Prodigal Centipede" by Oliver Herford on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Once to a Centipede a Snail / Remarked, "I wonder why you trail / Along the ground with such a lot / of feet -- a hundred, is it not? / A hundred feet! when two or three / Are all you need. Just look at me!
"The speed and ease with which I crawl, / And yet I have no feet at all! / In these days would it not be wise / For you to -- well, to _Hoof_erize? / You surely don't need more than two / To get along! If I were you, / I'd use one pair and stand up straight, / And save the other ninety-eight / Against a rainy day."
"Indeed / You're right! " replied the Centipede. / "I've often thought, to do my part, / 'Twould be advisable to start / A Feetless Day -- but then, you see, / If I stood upright I should be / A hundred feet in height, and I / Might bump my head against the sky! " / "Well," said the Snail, "I must admit / That puts a different face on it! / Your life depends on lying flat! / Dear! Dear! I hadn't thought of that! "